DILI, East Timor -- All is calm in East Timor, but tension bubbles under the surface in this island state a few days before the historic, first post-independence parliamentary election, slated for June 30. However, only the next few months will prove whether that will translate into the stability and peace needed for real development, or into more trouble. The real political battle is between former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, 58, and former President Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, 61, who for the occasion has established the National Congress for East Timor Reconstruction, or CNRT, a coalition that closely resemble the group that campaigned for independence in the 1999 referendum.
Fourteen parties and coalitions arevying for seats in an election whose only certainoutcome is the creation of a meaningful political opposition, and thus potentially a more functional democracy than this former Portuguesecolony has ever known.
East Timor Set for Historic, First Post-Independence Parliamentary Election
